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Thursday, March 14, 2013

A few of my favorite things - Websites edition

Since I've been asked this question a couple of times, I thought I would provide you with a list of a few of my favorite sites that I visit frequently (these are broken into categories and listed in alphabetical order):

Machinesbabylock.com - This is the website for Baby Lock. Baby Lock makes some machines that are some of the best affordable machines. They are probably better known for their sergers (check out this about.com page if you don't know what I'm talking about). Their website is a great place to find some cool free projects and videos.

bernina.com - This is the website for Bernina. It is a great resource for learning about Bernina machines. You don't have to be a Bernina owner/user to access some excellent content including their online magazine.

pfaffusa.com - This is the website for PFAFF. If you want to know about PFAFF sewing machines, go here. I think their website is very informative, but I tend to get more projects from their Facebook page

asg.org - The web home of the American Sewing Guild. ASG isn't all about a bunch of grannies sitting around complaining about young whippersnappers that have no manners and are hell-bent on ruining the good name of sewing. I have recently attended my first ASG meeting on the suggestion of one of those cool people I mentioned meeting at Sew Expo and found out that there is so much more to the organization. They do a lot of charity work, educational events, and can provide you with a seemingly endless wealth of knowledge. Not to say that there isn't a wide age range in ASG, but the ladies that I met were warm, funny, and made me laugh so hard that I started a coughing fit.

cluckclucksew.com - Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew has an excellent blog. She was in the instructor for my Sprocket Pillow class that I loved so much at Expo 2013. She has some fantastic tutorials on her site. Here's the Sprocket Pillow and the Easy Treat/Tote bag that I made for one of my nephews last Halloween

palmerpletsch.com - Palmer/Pletsch is a legend in garment sewing. Their time tested methods are logical, patterns well written, and their books are insightful and easy to understand. If I can do it, so can you.

Fashion for Real People - The Palmer/Pletsch digital magazine is a free download and has a lot of great tips and information.

patternreview.com - Pattern Review is a great resource. There are reviews on thousands of items from patterns, notions, and machines. I also love their message boards. If you sign up for a membership, you have access to an even more vast assortment of tools and perks like a discount at JoAnn Fabrics and the ability to keep track of your pattern stash

sewexpo.com - The Sewing and Stitchery Expo is an annual event held in Puyallup, WA. With over 400 vendor booths and low cost classes taught by some of the biggest names in sewing, this event is BIG.

urbanthreads.com - Urban Threads specializes in embroidery designs. They offer both machine and hand embroidery patterns. They aren't the typical embroidery designs that may come to mind. You WON'T find any licensed designs by Disney here. They are very well known for their machine embroidered free standing lace, steampunk designs, and skulls.